This unit introduces fundamental GIS concepts and the ArcGIS desktop environment, including ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcScene, and ArcToolbox. Students learn about spatial data types, coordinate/reference systems, data acquisition and quality, and perform basic geoprocessing (buffers, overlay, raster calculations) to prepare for more advanced spatial analysis in later units.
Learning Objectives
- Analyze and explain core GIS concepts and the roles of ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcScene, and ArcToolbox in spatial data management and mapping
- Demonstrate proper organization and use of GIS file structures and coordinate/reference systems by loading, projecting, and managing spatial datasets in ArcGIS
- Apply basic geoprocessing tools (e.g., buffering, overlay, raster calculator, variable-width buffers) to perform simple spatial analyses and interpret the outputs
- Evaluate sources and quality of spatial data (including GPS and online datasets) and describe cartographic considerations for accurate map presentation
Curriculum
- 1 Section
- 79 Lessons
- 30 hours
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- Unit 1 — Foundations of GIS and ArcGIS79
- 1.1You Ask: “What Is GIS About?”20 mins
- 1.2Understanding the File Structure for the Exercises20 mins
- 1.3The Original Form of Spatial Data: Maps20 mins
- 1.4The Basic Difference between ArcCatalog and ArcMap20 mins
- 1.5GIS and Cartography—Compatibility?20 mins
- 1.6The Data View and the Layout View20 mins
- 1.7Why Is Spatial Data Analysis So Hard?20 mins
- 1.8More Help20 mins
- 1.9Concerns about Finding and Collecting Data20 mins
- 1.10Looking at Reference Systems20 mins
- 1.11Information20 mins
- 1.12Examining the Toolbars20 mins
- 1.13Generating Features Based on Proximity: Buffering20 mins
- 1.14Using ArcToolbox to Make Buffer Zones around the Roads20 mins
- 1.15A Really Different Processing Paradigm20 mins
- 1.16The Raster Calculator—Integer Rasters20 mins
- 1.17Two Different Third Dimensions: The Temporal and the Vertical Spatial20 mins
- 1.183-D: 2-D (Spatial) Plus 1-D (Spatial)20 mins
- 1.19An (Almost) New Software Package: ArcScene20 mins
- 1.20And So You Ask Again: “What Is GIS About?”20 mins
- 1.21Anatomy of the ArcCatalog Window20 mins
- 1.22Moving Spatial Data from Maps to Computers: Forces for Change20 mins
- 1.23Exploring Data from the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS)20 mins
- 1.24Products of a Geographic Information System20 mins
- 1.25Controlling Your View of the Map: Zooming20 mins
- 1.26How the Computer Aids Analyzing Spatial Data20 mins
- 1.27Specification of your Input Text File for the “Create Features from Text File” Tool20 mins
- 1.28Looking for Data on the Internet20 mins
- 1.29Looking at Coordinate Systems20 mins
- 1.30Computer Hardware—What a Computer Does20 mins
- 1.31Pointing at Records20 mins
- 1.32Generating Features by Overlaying20 mins
- 1.33Variable-Width Buffers20 mins
- 1.34Facts about Rasters20 mins
- 1.35Arithmetic Calculation20 mins
- 1.36ArcScene20 mins
- 1.37More of What GIS Is About20 mins
- 1.38Setting Some Options20 mins
- 1.39Spatial Data20 mins
- 1.40Preliminaries20 mins
- 1.41Overall Requirements for Utility20 mins
- 1.42Understanding the Panning and Other Controls20 mins
- 1.43Complexity of Spatial Data20 mins
- 1.44Labeling Features20 mins
- 1.45Steps in Developing the Database20 mins
- 1.46Using the Reference System to Discover the Boundary Coordinates of a State Plane Zone20 mins
- 1.47Continuous and Discrete Phenomena20 mins
- 1.48Two Windows Are Available for Selecting20 mins
- 1.49Overlaying with Line and Point Feature Classes20 mins
- 1.50Make a New Feature Class from a Subset of Polygons: Extract20 mins
- 1.51Coordinate Space20 mins
- 1.52Boolean Operations20 mins
- 1.53ArcGlobe20 mins
- 1.54Next Steps: Seemingly Independent Things You Need to Know20 mins
- 1.55The Catalog Tree20 mins
- 1.56Limiting the Scope20 mins
- 1.57Seeing the GPS File in ArcMap20 mins
- 1.58Classification of GIS Products20 mins
- 1.59Adding Other Map Elements20 mins
- 1.60Structures for Spatial Data20 mins
- 1.61Making Polygons from Lines20 mins
- 1.62GPS and GIS20 mins
- 1.63Primary Lesson20 mins
- 1.64Some Implications of Discrete Representation for GIS20 mins
- 1.65Selecting Records (and, Thereby, Features)20 mins
- 1.66Spatial Joins in General20 mins
- 1.67More Complex Queries—And’s and Or’s20 mins
- 1.68Rasters with Integer Cell Values20 mins
- 1.69Floating-Point Rasters20 mins
- 1.70Determining Where Something Is: Coordinate Systems20 mins
- 1.71Connecting to a Folder20 mins
- 1.72Spatial Data for Decision Making20 mins
- 1.73Looking at the GPS Track in the Context of a Variety of GIS Data20 mins
- 1.74Documenting Products20 mins
- 1.75Adding Data to Data Frames20 mins
- 1.76Storage Paradigms for Areal Data20 mins
- 1.77Areas and Perimeters Examined20 mins
- 1.78Anatomy of the Acronym: GPS20 mins
- 1.79A Plan for Digitizing and Transforming20 mins
Instructor
Free
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